Hi OF,

I've only just recently joined the community and have been blown away by the amount of insight and information on offer from the generous members. As I'm just starting out in the vintage collection game, it got me thinking what prompted others to do so? I'm starting this thread so people can share what motivated them to start collecting.

I'll kick if off. It's quite a simple motivation but a touching one nonetheless; my great grandfather was a collector (sadly none of the pieces have made it down to me) so I thought I'd follow in his footsteps. OF has been a great educator thus far.

Look forward to hearing from you,
Candle00

 

In the mid 1970s, it occurred to me that my (late) father had a Rolex Prince Observatory duo-dial “doctor’s watch” that he hadn’t used for decades. I asked if he still had it, and.he did. He asked me if I wanted it. I did. That was when I was at the top of a slippery slope. The watch is close to 90 years old. Here it is.

 

Russian mafia debts that I had to find a way to pay off

 

Quite simply, my (quartz) watch had died.

I had always wanted to try a mechanical swiss watch, just to see what all the hype was about. But I was on a very limited budget at the time, and a new watch was too expensive. And so I wondered if a vintage watch would suit my needs.

In the days of yore (before OF) I lurked on the vintage watch forums and soaked up the knowledge. Here I must give credit and many thanks to mentors such as @LouS, @gatorcpa, @Tony C., @Bill Sohne, @MMMD, Dennis and several others on forums such as timezone, watchuseek and watchtalkforums. Although I have never met any of them in person it was their shared wisdom and enthusiasm for the hobby, captured in countless well-written posts, that led me to discover the history and style of vintage watches.

 

My interest (passion? obsession?) in vintage watches was triggered when I came across Desmond's blog on Constellations (http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.sg/) 5 years ago while researching on which watches are collectible. I practically read all his articles there and by the time I finished I am hooked. And I started looking for the right Connie for me, which at that time was the early 70's Japan-only ref 168.0065. Naturally I found my way into this forum, which opened up a whole new world of vintage Omegas and other vintage brands. I would say I now on my "third wave" which is mainly focused on vintage chronographs

 

My Uncle Jim [my Mother's youngest brother] motivated me to start collecting. He's a watchmaker and clockmaker as well as a collector. He introduced me to watches in the early 1970's. The picture below is from December of 2016 in central Wisconsin outside his shop...which is also the family farm implement business. Uncle Jim is on the left and I'm on the right...

 

I have to admit that is when I picked up an Ed White for 1300 bucks

 

I’ve always loved watches. Since I was a kid, having a durable cool watch was always important to me. They were disposable however and I was tired of changing batteries. Having watches die while I was traveling was annoying. In 2013 I bought my first automatic but it proved to have a glass jaw when came to life’s bumps. I solved that issue with a Rolex GMT, 2 JLC and an RGM all new. Disposable income and the watch blogs are a deadly combination. My first vintage was a 2998-6 bought from a friends brother’s shop in Paris in 2015. At that time I got bit by the UG bug and vintage in general. Joining OF was a real blessing or curse if you ask Mrs S. What I love is the complexity of these little machines, patina from a life lived, traditions, learning what to look out for and history. Enjoy but do your research.

 

My father was a collector of watches and clocks. Everywhere in the house there were clocks and watches hanging, standing or lying around. I used one of the clocks to hide my father cigarettes. Now my daughter does the same with my Marlboro's because my father gave me the clock when I bought my first house...

 

I've always been attracted to mechanical stuff... eventually led me to mechanical watches and their 400 year old history... fascinating stuff to me so I bought a nice high end watch Macys sold me for the super low cheap price by mistake and I was struck.. never stopped every since. It was a Tag heuer gra Carrera 36rs and they sold it to me for like 1500$ lol

 

When I was a kid my dad had his grandad's Illinois that he had used as a train conductor. I was fascinated by it and wanted to carry it when I was around eight, of course my dad said no but I got a Westclox Scotty for my birthday that year. When I was in high school I started picking up old pocket watches and have never quit.

 

The preciousness of time. When I am spending a weekend day with the kids, I only think “oh if I had another hour...” When busy/overwhelmed at work, I think “man, if I just had another day in the week...” When it’s holiday time, I think “gosh, where did the months go!!” When I see patients, they often ask “how many years do I have left?” Every day I am reminded of the preciousness of time. I look at my watch and think about time passing. And I think it’s really cool that someone who wore a watch before me probably thought the same things about the passing and preciousness of time while staring at the hands sweeping gently around.

 

rough start. Very cool watch

 

Please forgive the novel....On my birthday in 1970, received my first Timex as a birthday present. I stared at it constantly, loving its clean simplicity housed in a steel case. As an 8 year old, I was fascinated by its inherent ‘energy’. 5 years later, I received my first automatic, a Seiko ‘5’ (posted in WRUW this past weekend). Ten years my senior, my older brother David bought himself a Sea Dweller in 1977 - a red. Seriously (he sold, or rather pawned it years later - a heartbreaking story I won’t get into here). Anyway, I was (further) hooked.

My father was not into ostentatious display. Yet he had this smallish, square gold ‘thing’ he wore everyday and I knew it was special. Indeed, a few folks remarked how lovely it was. I own it now: it’s a 1952 GP, the likes of which I’ve not seen before (https://omegaforums.net/threads/help-with-1952-girard-perregaux.67942/ - movement pics coming!!). My father’s estate lawyer wore a Rolex President, which became a topic of conversation for us since he was also my brother’s lawyer (but for, um, different reasons!), and also loved that now lost ‘red’. I’m not into gold watches, per se, but that now-vintage President was killer.

I stopped wearing watches for a spell during the 1980s. But in 1990, while killing time in LAX, I spied a Tag Heuer 1000; honestly, I knew nothing about the brand, only that the watch was Swiss, and that it had that dive look I’ve loved ever since I first saw David’s Sea Dweller.

I rarely took it off, except a couple of years later in Singapore when the salesman at a Tag shop on Orchard Rd insisted I buy a small Formula 1 so my (ex) wife could get a smoking deal on her Tag 4000. OK, fine. Bend my rubber arm. I wore that 1000 everyday for many years until my wife bought me a fabulous wedding present: a NOS Muhle Glashutte M2 (the wooden box alone is just killer!).

In 2008, after staring at them for years, I bought an Omega 2254-5000. Throughout the years, the Omega brand always called to me. Sure, Rolex had deep family memories, but Omega, well, there’s just something classic about them, elegant yet understated.

With the exception of the Timex, I still have all of my watches. That’s how I ended up collecting - and, subsequently, here.

Thankfully, I found a ‘63 Seamaster 30, and, more importantly, you folks, on OF.

Cheers!

Michael

 

I don't remember how but I stumbled upon some watch videos on YouTube a bit more than a year ago, talking about seikos. Because I'm a nerd in general, I need to do deep research every time I get interested in something. Then I got offered a nice Seiko 5 military last year for my birthday (I asked for it !). And I caught the virus. I consulted a lot of media, particularly YouTube, articles, podcasts,... To learn as much as I could, I was starving for watch content. A few month later I bought a vintage seamster (now sold), and then my first luxury piece, a Rolex 1601. Now I wear it everyday. I got a few other pieces, as I like to try new things, but only the Rolex (and hopefully soon aspeedy, for my 30th birthday) sticks.

And it all started with a 150€ seiko... I could not imagine at the time that I would spend thousands on vintage watches not too long after...

But to answer the question directly : curiosity.

 

I have always liked watches - or maybe I just loved people who liked watches. My grandpas on both sides and dad always wore a watches growing up. One year my dad bought his dad the same watch he wore as a birthday present. Under the age of 4 I told my grandpa that my dad must have given him the watch because he didn’t like it anymore. That watch has been forever dubbed the “Micah watch” and I have constantly been reminded of it ever since.

I had multiple watches as a kid (Marvin the Martian watch was a prized possession). Over the years I received watches as presents and purchased them off Ebay and from pawnshops. Granted the most I likely ever spent was $50 and that was likely a fossil watch.

My watch interest significantly increased when it became an escape for me last December. My wife and I lost our first baby 10 weeks into her pregnancy. I pray no one has to go through a similiar loss. However in the midst of tragedy, I found buying and selling watches to be a healthy distraction.

I used my knowledge from selling vintage SNES games on eBay in college to start. I bought lots of mostly cheap vintage watches on Ebay, kept some and sold the others for a few bucks more than I paid. The more I bought and sold the more I read and learned about watches. The more I learned about watches the better the watches I started flipping and collecting. It took a while to be able to afford nicer pieces because the hobby was really only being supplemented by my measly profits of $5-15 a watch. This however kept the hobby exciting as I hunted for deals. Thoughtout that process some watches were utter flops - but some were gems.

I don’t really have time to buy and sell watches anymore, and that’s fine by me. My time doing so already led me to a great appreciation for vintage watches, and I have since greatly subsidized my hobby fund to encompass a growing collection of books and watches. Someday I hope to share this hobby and my collection with my children. I am thankful to say my wife is again pregnant and I will be sharing my collection with a little one at the end of March.

 

Best of luck to you, friend

 

I have always had multiple watches, some vintage most not. What pushed me over the edge was a couple of watches my father gave me when he cleaned out his safe deposit box. The contents had been in the box since the mid 70's

 

Wow what year is your speedster?